§ 13. Mr. Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury)If he will make a statement about the average waiting time for heart bypass surgery. [102274]
The Minister of State, Department of HealthThe average waiting time for heart bypass surgery in the NHS in England in 1997–98, the latest year for which figures are available, was 188 days. We have made it clear that tackling coronary heart diseases is one of the Government's top priorities.
§ Mr. RobertsonI am grateful to the Minister for that reply. Will he perhaps explain, or look into, why one of my constituents was told nine months ago that he would have to wait between seven and nine months for such an operation, only to be told a couple of weeks ago that he would have to wait a further 12 months? Is that typical, or is it an unusual case?
§ Mr. DenhamWe all regret it when any patient waiting for a serious operation has that procedure cancelled. I understand that the hon. Gentleman's constituents—I do not know about the individual case that he mentioned—are often treated in Bristol and particular issues there are being addressed by an additional £100,000 of funding for the health authority and the United Bristol Healthcare NHS trust.
More generally, we recognise that the provision of cardiac surgery is simply not good enough at the moment. That is why, just a couple of months ago, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the injection of a further £50 million into the NHS to improve coronary heart services and, in particular, to increase the rate of revascularisation by 10 per cent., with more than 3,000 extra operations over the next two years.
§ Rev. Martin Smyth (Belfast, South)We welcome the decline in waiting lists in certain areas, although other parts of the country are not as well catered for. With all 663 the new money going in, are there particular areas that are ahead of themselves in operations and are they able to provide the back-up for those areas where there seems to be scarcity of provision?
§ Mr. DenhamWhat is clear is that we inherited wide variations in access to treatment and care in different parts of the country. Indeed, in some parts of the country, there is an inverse relationship between the likelihood of serious coronary heart disease in the community and the likelihood of someone getting a bypass operation. One of the central purposes of the national service framework for coronary heart disease that we intend to publish next year is to set standards of care, from prevention right through to the most serious surgery. We shall expect the national health service to meet those standards, wherever in the country a patient may be. That will need to be backed up with the investment in equipment and in staff announced by my right hon. Friend a couple of months ago.
§ Mr. Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden)Will the Minister confirm that, as a result of the reforms introduced in April, any patient who needs a coronary bypass, or any other operation, and who chooses to attend a hospital with a shorter waiting time than the one contracted to his local primary care group, can no longer exercise that choice? Does the Minister agree with the director of the College of Health that, as a result of the Government's reforms, NHS patients now have less choice of hospitals within the NHS than at any time since the health service existed?
§ Mr. DenhamNo. No such choice ever existed for individual patients under the previous Administration. We have swept aside the incredibly bureaucratic system of extra-contractual referrals that required approval before someone could be sent to a particular consultant. We expect that the vast majority of treatments for the vast majority of patients will be provided according to agreements reached locally between the primary care group and the main trust serving that area.
However, in changing the system, we have not removed the right of doctors to refer patients to the consultants that they want. The use of out-of-area treatments is an integral part of the current system. However, it is much better to plan for the vast majority of patients to receive high-quality services in their most local hospital, rather than to use the ridiculous model advocated by the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr. Lilley). Under that model, one can receive the best treatment only in a few parts of the country; patients have to chase all over the place to try to find out where the best treatment is available. People want good-quality services in their own local hospital—that is what we want to deliver.